BY LARRY RAMER
Staff Writer
MARLBORO — Residents who turned up for an Oct. 6 zoning board meeting did not have a chance to hear testimony about or formally comment on an applicant’s plan to build a fitness center on Vanderburg Road.
Representatives of the zoning board determined that the number of people who came to the meeting would prevent it from being heard in a caucus room at Town Hall. The caucus room is about the size of a classroom. The main meeting room at Town Hall was unavailable that evening.
The Elite Fitness hearing has been rescheduled for 8 p.m. Dec. 1.
A crowd of about 50 to 60 residents arrived to hear plans for a 98,000-square-foot Elite Fitness health center. Residents who spoke informally with a reporter indicated they oppose the application because they are concerned about the traffic the proposed facility would generate in their neighborhood.
The applicant proposing the fitness center is seeking a use variance from the zoning board to permit its construction in a zone where that is not a permitted use. Vanderburg Road runs off Route 79 in the village section of Marlboro. Several housing developments are along Vanderburg Road.
At prior meetings held to discuss the Elite Fitness application, an average of five to 10 members of the public were in attendance.
Asked why he believes so many people turned out for the Oct. 6 meeting, resident Glen Lehner said, “We wanted to see if we could block Elite gym from being approved.”
Lehner, who said he lives off Vanderburg Road, said many nearby residents are concerned about the traffic the fitness center would generate. He said that allowing the applicant to build this type of facility near homes on Vanderburg Road would represent poor planning.
“All of a sudden they change the rules, where they permit residential housing to be built and they’re also going to zone it for larger buildings?” he asked. “How could you have both residential and larger buildings when originally it was only going to be light industrial or warehouses? I would rather have a small warehouse than a 100,000-square-foot building.”
Resident Michael Fishman was more blunt.
“This is going to be a monster complex in what is now a residential area … and it’s going to be right across the street from where children are playing,” Fishman said. “We’re talking about making something that is more or less [the size of] a shopping center, with 400 parking spots, in comparison to the Acme shopping center [at Ryan Road and Route 79], which has 300 spots.”
Fishman said he lives in a development which is almost directly across the street from the proposed location of the fitness center.
Attorney Gerald Sonnenblick is representing the applicant. He said the residents do not know how the traffic generated by the fitness center would impact them.
“This is the first time the folks who came here tonight have appeared at a hearing. We’ve had testimony from traffic people and these folks have not heard the testimony,” Sonnenblick said. “Until such time as they’ve heard the testimony or read a transcript [of the hearings], they can only make a decision based on what they’ve been told. How can they honestly know [about the traffic] until they hear what it will be?